The invention relates to a broadcast receiving device that receives a broadcast and, more particularly, to a technique of setting area information on a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device that receives a terrestrial digital broadcast.
In recent years, terrestrial digital broadcast receiving devices that receive terrestrial digital broadcasts, such as TVs and DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) such as DVD recorders, have become widespread.
When a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device is newly installed or when the place of residence is changed due to moving or the like, a setting needs to be made according to each individual use environment or the like. To reduce trouble caused to a user associated with such a setting, the common terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device has a presetting function that automatically registers channels which are channels to be selected. Channel registration is meant to assign channels to channel selection buttons from 1 to 12, for example, on a remote controller and store the channels.
To perform such a channel presetting, area information needs to be set in advance. The area information is information indicating an area, such as a zip code, a prefecture, or an area code. A user directly inputs area information or selects an appropriate area from a selection screen, through a GUI of a terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device.
Thus, a user possessing a plurality of terrestrial digital broadcast receiving devices need to set area information each time a device is added. In addition, when the place of residence is changed due to moving or the like, the user needs to reset the area information on all the terrestrial digital broadcast receiving devices that the user possesses. Furthermore, if wrong information is inputted when directly inputting area information or if a wrong area is selected when selecting an appropriate area from a selection screen, there is a problem, for example, that only a particular terrestrial digital broadcast receiving device has a different setting content than other terrestrial digital broadcast receiving devices.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-350100 proposes a method for avoiding such problems.
Specifically, a server that can be connected to an external network is installed and an infrared device that receives information, such as area information, through the server is installed. The infrared device makes a setting or modification of area information on devices, each having an infrared receiving unit mounted thereon, such as a TV and a VCR.
The above-described method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-350100, however, requires an information provider such as an Internet provider. In addition, devices other than a TV and a VCR, such as a server for external network connection and an infrared device for transmitting information, are required.